A passion turned into a project…and then this blog.

Starting the day off right.

What better way to start off a Sunday morning than a breakfast sandwich with friends? On Sunday’s Matt and I are athletic and play an hour of tennis with our friends Jamie and Tash. Sunday really is a fun day and luckily the next recipe worked right into that plan.

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The cook book is called 200 Best Panini Recipes and is by Tiffany Collins.
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A sexy interior shot of the panini maker
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I had been given a panini machine from my Aunt Lorrie for Christmas several years ago, thanks Aunt Lorrie. It is so easy to use and makes a really yummy sandwich…warm with a slightly crispy exterior.
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In addition to the ground beef I used to make for last night’s burgers, I also bought sausage for today’s paninis at the Windsor Night Market. The sausage I purchased was the New Yorker sausage, a traditional hot Italian sausage from Robbie’s Gourmet Sausage Co. Robbie makes a mean sausage. He uses quality ingredients and the result is a really delicious sausage. And buying his sausages means I get to support a local business…so a win around!

If you see this for sale buy it, then go home and cook it, then put it in your mouth.

So back to today’s recipe – Fried Egg and Italian Sausage Panini. For 4 sandwiches I took about 8 oz of sausage (which worked out to 2 links – so yay for me I have more Robbie’s sausage to eat later!) and removed the casings by cutting shallow slit with a sharp knife down the length of the sausage. I put the sausage in a skillet and broke up into small pieces while sauteing it until it was done, which was about 5 minutes, then I removed it from the pan and kept it warm. The recipe said to drain the grease which Robbie’s sausage created NO grease. Then using the same pan melt 1 TB of butter and fry 2 eggs. Once those eggs were fried I removed them and I added another TB of butter and fried another 2 eggs. While sausage/eggs cooked I plugged in my panini maker and took 4 ciabatta rolls, cut them in half and brushed melted butter to the outsides of the rolls. Then I placed each roll into the maker and cooked for about 3 minutes. I kept the sausage, eggs and ciabatta rolls in a warm oven until I was ready to serve. To make the sandwich I placed the bottom on the roll on a plate then topped with jalapeno jack cheese, some sausage, an egg, fresh chopped chives from my garden and the top of the roll.

Well that looks tasty!

Holding back the urge to take a bite…must get a photo first!!

The sandwich was pretty tasty and even my crazy cat Cheetoh wanted in on the sandwich eating.

The Verdict: The sandwich was very easy to put together with all the cooked ingredients ready in a line and it was really nice I only used 1 pan – so yay for not many dishes! Next time around I would probably cook the entire sandwich in the panini maker (rather than just cooking the roll by itself). Also I really don’t think it needed that brushed melted butter on the outside – it would have been just as tasty without it. I could see myself making this one again…so if you want the actual recipe let me know in the comments.